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An Easter Greeting from the Dean

Welcome to the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine as we celebrate Easter!

Across the centuries people have shouted with joy, “Alleluia, Christ is risen indeed!”

Now we join in that ancient ritual, as we pass from death into new life.

We began the Lenten Journey daring to believe that each one of us would find God mighty to save us! Now in Christ’s Resurrection, the power of The One who made that Promise – that nothing could separate us from Divine Love – is revealed.

The gracious Creator, God who hates nothing that God has made, reveals in Christ the Divine Rhythm of life: things cast down are raised up, what grows old is made new, and what was dead is given New Life!

Every age must rediscover that hope made real. Within the challenges of human history, people in each generation have known the dangers of pettiness, hatred, misunderstanding and violence. As individuals, in our communities and across the globe, we witness firsthand the forces that pull us away from that Love.

But Easter shows us that darkness cannot overwhelm God's plan of Salvation. God intends abundant life for all – not for some, but for all.

Whatever attacks human freedom and dignity cannot prevail. We discover again and again what it means to be Easter people, for from the horror of the Cross Christ redeems the world. Miracles continue to happen, given that the Cross is never the final chapter.

This great Cathedral invites people, across faiths and cultures, to enter and to discover that Promise in their own way, that each of us – redeemed by the grace of God – can also become an agent of that redemption, building up a world transformed by God’s love.

May your Easter audaciously move you into that Promise. May you be transformed by that Promise, empowered to transform our world into more just communities that care for all of God's children.

And then we hear anew the Easter Joy, “Alleluia” – for Christ is, again, “risen indeed!”